


Difficult

by noveltea



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-18
Updated: 2010-07-18
Packaged: 2017-10-10 15:30:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noveltea/pseuds/noveltea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the deaths of 3 prominent teachers, it's difficult to find peace of mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Difficult

Christmas was Bobby's favourite holiday, Kitty knew. Every year he threw himself whole-heartedly into the holiday season, making sure everyone he came into contact with felt as good about the holiday as he did. Usually it sparked more arguments than it was worth, but the junior school kids loved him for it.

Kitty saw it as another way that Bobby took care of everyone else around him.

Things hadn't been the same since the death of the Professor and Mr. Summers and Dr. Grey. Every day was harder than the day before and the first Christmas after was tough on everyone. But for those students who'd spent most of their teenage years or childhood at the school - students like Kitty and Bobby and Jubilee - it was tougher still. The people they'd come to count on, the people that were _family_ weren't there any more.

She had trouble feeling happy about anything.

As a result she became Bobby's new project. She didn't know whether it was because he needed an excuse to cheer himself up, or because he needed a distraction from whatever was going on with Rogue, or because he just didn't know what else to do. Whatever the reason was she hadn't appreciated it for the first week. But slowly it wore down her defenses and she found herself being dragged outside in the freezing cold towards the giant fountain in the gardens.

It was half-frozen already, but as she watched reluctantly from the side, he repeated his actions from a time before their whole world had shattered. The water froze under his touch and he added skates to his shoes while waiting patiently for her to lace up her own.

"See, that wasn't so difficult, was it?" he told her, and she swore he had a smug look on his face, but it was difficult to see in the dim light.

He offered her his hand, but she skated past him, doing a lap of the now-frozen fountain pond in lazy silence. When she passed him again he reached out and grabbed her by the arm and she swung around and he had to catch her before she fell onto the ice. A string of curses fell from her mouth before she could stop them.

To his credit, he didn't reply, but he did look down on her with a wide grin.

"What are you looking at?" she scowled, trying to get her footing back and disentangle herself from his arms at the same time. She wasn't comfortable being this close to Bobby, not anymore. It made things... difficult.

"And to think you used to have fun doing this," he told her.

"Doing what?" Success was hers at last and she managed to spin around and get a few feet of distance between them.

Bobby just looked amused. "Skating on a frozen pond with your oldest friend."

She didn't say anything for a while; she kept glancing up at the windows on this side of the mansion, expecting to see a light on and a familiar face watching them, ready to catch them in innocent conversation and use it as ammunition the next time they wanted to accuse Kitty of trying to steal Bobby away from Rogue. That had never been her intention.

"Things are just... different now," she told him, waving off his response as he opened his mouth the reply. "Every thing's so complicated and every thing's changed so much. I guess it's just going to take some time."

He didn't look unsympathetic. "I know," he said simply. "But it's Christmas, and as crazy as every thing's been this year, sometimes you just have to let yourself pretend that every thing's okay. Even if it's just for a moment."

She couldn't meet his gaze. If she did, he'd notice the tears welling up in her eyes and that simply wouldn't do.


End file.
